Selenium‐ and Tellurium‐Containing Organic π‐Conjugated Oligomers and Polymers

Abstract Organic electronic materials are one of the fastest developing fields of chemistry because of both inherent interest in the synthesis and properties of advanced materials and their many practical applications. While almost all organic electronic materials consist of carbon based πconjugated backbones, a majority of these skeletons also include some heteroatoms. Thiophene based oligomers and polymers are among the most studied organic electronic materials. Yet, despite their potential advantages, selenium‐containing oligomers and polymers have attracted surprisingly scant attention compared to the huge interest in thiophene based materials in recent decades. Few tellurium‐containing oligomers and polymers have been prepared, mostly because of a lack of synthetic methodologies for their preparation and their relatively poor stability. This chapter discusses πconjugated oligomers and polymers that contain selenium or tellurium atoms in the backbone. Most of these oligomers and polymers are selenophene based materials with only a few examples of tellurophene based oligomers and polymers known. Examples of selenium‐ and tellurium‐containing organic polymeric and oligomeric materials that have selenium or tellurium atoms in the backbone but not as a part of the heterocyclic ring are quite rare and will be discussed toward the end of this chapter. Particular attention is focused on approaches for synthesizing these selenium‐ and tellurium‐containing oligomers and polymers, on their special properties, and on highlighting their performance as organic electronic materials.